Schooling for Sustainable Development: Autonomy, Citizenship and Social Justice in South America

Abstract

South America is a continent that exhibits a great diversity in natural and cultural phenomena. Much international environmental debate has focused on the challenges to the biodiversity and traditional communities of the Amazonian rainforests and the unique flora and fauna of the Galapagos Islands. However, each nation has its own particular environmental features that attract tourists and scientists from many countries. Historically, there are sharp contrasts between the experiences of indigenous communities and the immigrants who brought foreign values and practices that transformed economies and cultures. There has been an evolution from European colonial regimes through, in many South American nations, a series of mainly autocratic and often military dictatorships to the broadly democratic governments of today. As governments have changed so have educational policies and practices. Attempts to introduce and develop environmental education for sustainable development have to be viewed nation by nation in evolving political and economic contexts.